


Dream a little dream

by Tyellas



Series: Lab T-4 [6]
Category: The Shape of Water (2017)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, No Spoilers, Pre-Relationship, Reminiscing, Slice of Life, right on the cusp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-14 14:07:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13009449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyellas/pseuds/Tyellas
Summary: Elisa should be having a perfect Saturday morning. But the last week at Occam, and the creature held there, reframe both dreams and reality.





	Dream a little dream

On Saturday morning, as the bus pulls away, Elisa looks back at Occam Aerospace. Such a week. She’ll save on a bus fare by going downtown for her Saturday errand, instead of going home first.

Elisa settles into her seat, to while away the ride by escaping from it all. 

She’s a princess, daughter of a kingdom by the sea. Tall and beautiful, suitors aching for her to crown them as her choice. Yet she will leave it all. For the quest is hers, to save the prince...  

No. That isn't working today.  

She’s sitting in an elegant boudoir. Her current favorite starlet says to her, beseeching, “It’s a crisis, Miss Esposito, I really need an assistant I can trust. Someone discreet. Do you think that maybe, for this press tour…” 

That isn't clicking either. 

Because she feels just terrible, leaving that creature alone in the lab.  

Usually, Saturday is Elisa’s favorite day. Her day. Her pay packet is secure in her purse, topped up with some overtime. She has an unbroken day and night to herself. She can watch the downstairs movies or catch a new feature with Giles. She might leaf through a book, or do her nails. And she’ll take the longest, slowest, most languorous bath of her week. 

But today, Saturday means (she checks her watch) a full forty hours until she gets to see the amazing creature again. He can't be happy in those tanks, if he's so lonely that he likes to see _her._ Will he be all right? Sometimes Occam clears out over the weekend. Other times, they keep doing … what they do.   

Elisa looks back again, but Occam Aerospace is lost in industrial haze.

With her mind trapped in reality, the ride feels longer than usual. Finally, the bus draws up to the main downtown stop. Elisa’s heart lifts a touch. In front of a huge building, she puts her beret on, straightens the brooch on her collar. There. She is ready to tackle Baltimore’s largest department store.   

A huge, brass revolving door spins ceaselessly. Elisa joins the swim of humanity entering it, to dive out the other side. In the store's glitter and marble, she catches the current of foot traffic leading to her hunting grounds: the cut-price counter.  

The marble and tile drop away in the bargain area of the basement. Elisa only has eyes for the clothes. She is out, today, for warm things. Her commute and her apartment will all be cold, soon. She foregoes a tempting table of shoes for a rack of damaged garments. She flips through the items, seeking a sweater with a fixable pull, a skirt with a problem zipper. She skips over browns and yellows for greens and blues today, colors that remind her of the creature. 

There’s an irresistible exception. Her hand drifts over, then seizes, a red wool coat. Shockingly, it is her oddball size, with turn-up cuffs. The only problem she can find is its missing button. Elisa checks the coat’s lining. Sure enough, a spare button is sewn there. It's the easiest possible repair. The store is writing off something that needs a little help, that isn't quite perfect. It's flashy, she'll stand out in the line to clock in at work. But its beauty and quality are irresistible. She'll rescue it.

By the time Elisa leaves the department store with her prize, downtown’s Saturday is at its peak. She enjoys walking down the lively, packed blocks, hearing conversations and music. A news stand's wire rack of paperbacks catches her eye. She likes spicy romances, but the more passionate they are, the more likely it is that the ending is unhappy. And her shopping rescue had its price. The next thing that tempts her is a lunch counter. Coffee and a chicken-salad sandwich sound awfully good. (Would the creature like sandwiches? Elisa doesn’t know if the bread would be good for him.) But, weighing the fuss of ordering without a voice, she feels drained.

Despite this, as part of the downtown crowd, Elisa feels like somebody. She isn’t a princess, but she looks after herself, has a place to call home. She isn’t on the gossip pages with movie stars, but she has a few friends. She’s never been pretty, but the beautiful things you can get today are _amazing_. Her past gives her pleasures a sharp, that-shows-them edge. Her future, when her feet will hurt like Zelda's do, when Giles isn't next door any more...

She dodges thinking about that, same way she dodges unhappy endings. For now, she's got a nice little life.

Little is the word. It’s feeling small today, this life of hers. Because something as wild as her dreams is real: that amazing creature. The wonder of him draws her thoughts in like a constant tide.

She wants to give him…something. So he doesn’t have to be so alone when she isn’t there. Given a boost by the shopping bag on her arm, Elisa ventures into a few other stores, dodging salespeople and their questions. But there isn’t anything.

Inspiration strikes. Elisa doubles back to Lexington Market. This farmers’ market has all the food in the world. Elisa loves the place so much she rarely goes there, for the sake of her pay packet. Today, she slips through the stalls’ hustle and neon and callers. She is on a quest.

There it was, at a farmer’s stand: a dozen of the freshest eggs possible. They cost twice as much as the ones from her usual grocery. They won't linger, not the way the creature likes to eat them. So Elisa will bring the creature two every day this week. (She'll laugh at this idea of hers, come Wednesday.) She’ll have to be careful, going in and out of the lab. If she gets caught without a reason, there might be trouble. (She won't be laughing about this.) For now, Elisa slides open the tissue-paper wrapping around the coat. She nestles the box of eggs into the coat’s folds, to shelter them on the way home. The coat's glow reflects on the eggs, tinting them rosy pink. She folds the bag shut, satisfied for the moment.

By the time she's back on the bus, she's ready to sit down. After the crowds, solitude feels like peace, not loneliness. Of course, it’s when the bus is on its way that Elisa’s mind floods with what she could have given the creature. A fish from the pet shop or a piece of mineral from the museum or, surely, there were waterproof boat things. She’s not sure what, though. She curls up in her seat, knocked back into the past by her own stupidity about this. She wishes she was smart. 

And then the perfect escape comes, like a record player’s needle finding the music. 

She’s a lady scientist, like the ones she sees at work. The creature is her responsibility. She soon has the project turned around with the secrets the far happier creature reveals. How it all comes to pass is vague, but it's a long bus ride home. She has plenty of time.

Elisa settles in to think through the details. A smile lifts her mouth. She cradles her bags on her lap, her body on the bus, her mind back with the creature.


End file.
